Passing the buck

Matchpoints, nobody vulnerable, you are East

♠ J 9 5  ♥ 9 8 6 3  ♦ K 9 4 3   ♣ A Q

North	East (you)	South	West
Pass 2 ♠* 5 ♣	Pass 3 ♠ ??	Pass 4 ♥	1 ♠ 4 ♠

*hearts and a minor, at least 5-5

What do you do over  5♣?

ANSWER:  Pass, forcing partner to choose between declaring or doubling.

THE PRINCIPLE: When our side has bid game intending to make (rather than sacrificing), we will not let the opponents win the contract undoubled. Period. Full stop. Otherwise the opponents will rob us blind at every opportunity. Our side must either bid one more time, or double the opponents. If the choice is clear from your hand, act accordingly; if the choice is not clear, then Pass and let partner decide.  Passing the buck, if you want to think of it that way. The same principle applies if our side has not yet bid game, but has established a game-forcing auction: we will not let the opponents win the contract undoubled.

With only three-card spade support, and two probable defensive tricks in clubs, it is tempting to double for penalties. On the other hand, those club tricks will probably be just as useful in dummy, and the diamond king can be useful either way. More importantly, partner is obviously short in hearts and might want to keep bidding if she has a fistful of spades. So with values that are useful on either offense or defense, leave it up to partner by making a forcing pass, forcing her to choose between bidding or doubling.

But wait, it’s not over yet…

♠ J 9 5   ♥ 9 8 6 3  ♦ K 9 4 3   ♣ A Q

North	East (you)	South	West
Pass 2 ♠* 5 ♣ Pass	Pass 3 ♠ Pass ??	Pass 4 ♥ 5 ♥	1 ♠ 4 ♠ Pass

Your call?

ANSWER: Double. You can’t pass, because the opponents don’t get to win the contract undoubled. Partner could have bid or doubled, but she instead made a forcing pass; passing the buck to you. Well, the buck stops here. You don’t have any extra values for a spade contract, so you must perforce double.

The complete hand:

	North
	♠ K 7 ♥ K J 7 5 2 ♦  --   ♣ K J 9 8 5 3
West		East (you)
♠ A Q 10 8 3 2  ♥  -- ♦ A Q 6 5 ♣ 10 6 2		♠ J 9 5 ♥ 9 8 6 3 ♦ K 9 4 3 ♣ A Q
	South
	♠ 6 4 ♥ A Q 10 4 ♦ J 10 8 7 2  ♣ 7 3

Note: I think West has a clear 5♠ bid over 5♥. With North having shown a club-heart two-suiter, West’s pointy-suit values aren’t likely to be useful on defense. East’s pass of 5 ♣ indicated a hand suitable for either offense or defense, so offense it should have been.